Monster wave paralyses new bride on her honeymoon

A relaxing honeymoon on a Hawaiian beach has taken a terrifying turn, leaving a new bride paralysed.

Just days after her dream wedding, Nikki Lewis was bodyboarding with her husband, Will, at Maui’s Big Beach when she was slammed to the ground by a monster wave.

A friend who watched the incident from the sand told ABC News the wave fully engulfed the woman, causing him to lose sight of her.

"It was probably five to 10 seconds, but it felt like time had stood still," JaMikal Moorer says.

Nikki Lewis was bodyboarding at Maui’s Big Beach when she was slammed to the ground by a monster wave. (Facebook)

Mrs Lewis did not surface from the water, instead the receding waves washed up her broken body on the shore.

"We saw her lying headfirst in the sand with her body kind of crunched up, water flowing over her body," he says.

Her husband, Moorer and another friend rushed to her aid, along with a bystander who happened to be a paramedic.

The Texan was carefully brought from the water but was unable to move or speak – the wave had broken her spine in two places.

Two weeks since her accident, Mrs Lewis is still recovering in hospital in Honolulu. She is slowly gaining strength and movement and her husband is thankful for the progress she’s made, considering most people with such injuries never make it off a respirator.

'We saw her lying headfirst in the sand with her body kind of crunched up' (Facebook)

Mrs Lewis would later tell her husband of her terror in the moments when she was helplessly lying on the ocean floor, unable to swim toward the surface or breathe.

It's not the first incident of this kind in Maui. Makena State Park, where the beach is located, is a popular surfing and bodyboarding area with a reputation for both its beauty and danger.

According to Hawaii’s Trauma Registry, more people ended up in hospital with spinal-cord injuries between 2009 and 2013 from Makena State Park than any other beach.

Mr Lewis says his wife is trying her best with recovery and "giving it her 100 percent".

Family and friends now aim to raise funds to help transport her home to Texas so she can be near loved ones, particularly the couple’s three children.

"We both miss our kids and just want to be back with them," Mr Lewis says.

'We both miss our kids and just want to be back with them' (Facebook)

Despite being confined to a bed with her neck strapped in a brace, Mrs Lewis is seen smiling and laughing in a series of photos posted to Facebook by her family and friends.

Mr Lewis says that although there are lots of tears, "her upbeat personality is what is getting us through it".